# NGO jobs: where to look and how to apply

> NGO jobs are posted on each organisation's own careers page, on sector job boards and, for the UN system, on agency portals. Read the contract type and funding line first, then follow the listing's own application route. Zorlya reads a United Kingdom charity board and a UN vacancies feed, lists employers in a directory, and has no NGO filter.

Source: https://zorlya.com/blog/ngo-jobs-where-to-look-how-listings-differ-and-how-to-apply

By Zorlya. Published 2026-10-24, updated 2026-10-31. International and NGO jobs. 8 min read.

NGO jobs are posted in three main places: the careers page of the organisation itself, boards that cover charities and development work, and the portals of UN agencies. The listing tells you the contract type, the funding and the closing date. Apply through the route the listing names, and keep each answer specific to that organisation.

An NGO, or non-governmental organisation, is a body that works on a public purpose and is not part of a government. The word covers a small local charity, a national foundation and a large international humanitarian group, so the jobs, the pay and the hiring process differ a great deal between them.

## Which kind of NGO work do you want?

Decide this before you search, because each kind asks for different evidence and the listings use different words.

| Kind of work | What the job involves | Evidence a listing often asks for |
|---|---|---|
| Programmes | Running projects with partners and communities | Project work, budgets, reports to funders |
| Emergency response | Work in a crisis, often at short notice and in hard places | Field experience, logistics, readiness to travel |
| Advocacy and policy | Influencing governments and institutions | Research, writing, knowledge of the bodies to be influenced |
| Campaigning | Mobilising the public | Organising, communications, digital work |
| Support roles | Finance, fundraising, HR, IT, communications | The same skills a company asks for |

Support roles can be a way in. They ask for skills that carry over from any sector, and once you are inside, you learn how the organisation works.

## Where do I look for NGO jobs?

Start with the organisations you already know. Most NGOs keep a careers or vacancies page on their own site, and that page is the one place that is certain to be complete and current. Bookmark five or ten of them and check them on a schedule instead of waiting for a job board to catch the post.

Sector boards come next. ReliefWeb lists humanitarian and development vacancies; Zorlya's feed does not carry its ads, so search it yourself. CharityJob covers charity and nonprofit roles in the United Kingdom. Other countries have their own boards for the sector, and a search for the country name with the word vacancies or NGO usually finds them. Find each board's own address yourself and read its terms before you rely on it.

UN agencies post on their own career portals, and some boards copy those ads. The [post on UN jobs](/blog/un-jobs-how-hiring-in-the-un-system-works-and-where-roles-are-posted) explains how those portals work, and the [post on interviews with an international organisation](/blog/preparing-for-an-interview-with-an-international-organisation) covers the vacancy notice and what follows it.

Some NGOs post on the same hiring software as companies, and some publish a vacancies page that is a plain list of documents. A directory that records each employer's careers page helps with those. The [Zorlya directory](/countries) lists employers by country, with the industry and the careers page where one is known.

## A weekly routine for an NGO search

1. Keep a list of 10 to 20 organisations in your field, with the address of each vacancies page.
2. On a fixed day, open each page and note anything new since last week.
3. Check two or three sector boards for roles from organisations not on your list, and add the good ones.
4. Read each new listing's contract, funding and place lines first, and drop what does not fit.
5. Write down the closing date and time zone of each role you keep, in your tracker.

## How do NGO listings differ from company listings?

They differ in what they say about the contract, the funding and the place. Read those lines before the duties, because they decide whether the role fits your life.

| Type of listing | What it usually says | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Staff post | A grade or level, a contract length, a base location | Whether the post is fixed term, the notice period and the benefits |
| Project post | The project name and a funder, often a fixed end date | Whether the contract is tied to the grant and what happens when it ends |
| Consultancy | Terms of reference, deliverables, a number of days | Who pays tax and insurance, and whether payment depends on delivery |
| Internship or volunteer role | A short period, often a stipend or none | Whether there is any pay, support for costs and a route to a paid post |

Wording changes by organisation, so treat the table as a reading guide and not a rule. Some organisations also separate posts open to people based in the country from posts they fill internationally. If the listing mentions national or international staff, find out which group you fall in before you apply.

A worked example. Illustrative: the listing is invented. "Programme Officer, Livelihoods. Fixed term, 12 months, subject to funding. Based in Kampala, with travel to field sites. National position." Before reading the duties, you know three things: the post may end when a grant does, it involves travel, and it is for people based in Uganda. If you live elsewhere and cannot move, the duties do not matter.

## How do I apply for an NGO job?

Follow the listing's own route and its closing date. That might be an online portal, an email address with a reference number in the subject line, or a form with several text boxes. Send only what is asked, in the format asked.

Answer in the order of the listing's requirements, and give one example for each. Say why this organisation and this work, with a reason from your own history. The existing post on [how NGO and nonprofit applications differ](/blog/ngo-and-nonprofit-applications-how-they-differ) goes through the forms, motivation, references and checks in more detail, and [how to read an application deadline](/blog/how-to-read-an-application-deadline) helps with closing times set in another time zone.

If you are applying from another country, read [what to check before applying outside your country](/blog/applying-for-a-job-outside-your-country) first. Whether you may work in the country, and whether the organisation helps with that, depends on the country and the case. Ask the organisation, and use the official source for the country. This is general information, not legal or immigration advice.

## How do I get experience if every job asks for it?

Many listings ask for years of relevant experience as well as a degree, and a further degree does not stand in for them. Three routes help:

- A support role, such as finance or communications, in an NGO you care about.
- An internship or volunteer role that is clear about what you will do and learn, and that does not leave you out of pocket without saying so.
- Work in a related field, such as local government or a community group, that gives you examples to use in an application.

## How can I tell whether an NGO job is real?

Check that the listing is on the organisation's own site or that it links to it, that the contact address uses the organisation's own domain, and that no one asks you to pay to be considered. Be careful with a listing that has no named organisation. [How to check that a job posting is real](/blog/how-to-check-that-a-job-posting-is-real) gives the full list.

## Questions people ask

### Do NGO jobs pay less than company jobs?

It depends on the organisation, the country and the role. Some publish pay bands and some publish nothing. Read the figure as you would for any job, gross or net and per year or per month, and compare it with local costs.

### Do I need a degree in international development?

Not always. Many listings ask for a subject, a level of experience or a language, and they say which are required and which are desirable. Read that part of the listing and answer what it asks. If a requirement is essential and you do not meet it, a strong application for another post is a better use of your time.

### Can I find NGO jobs in one place?

Not in one place that is complete. Boards cover parts of the sector, and many NGOs post only on their own sites. Combining a few boards with a list of organisations you check yourself covers more than either one.

### Is an unpaid internship worth it?

Only if you can afford it and it gives you work you can describe later. Ask what you will do, who will supervise you and whether any costs are covered before you accept.

## What we know and what we do not

Zorlya reads a charity board for the United Kingdom and a feed of United Nations agency vacancies. Each role links to the posting it was read from: a charity board role opens the board's page, and a UN vacancy opens the aggregator's copy of the ad, which links on to the agency's notice. The humanitarian job boards are not read, so their ads are not in the feed. Zorlya has no NGO or sector filter in the feed. You can filter by country and by source. Many NGOs that post on their own pages are missing, and you can [suggest an organisation](/countries/suggest) for the team to review. The sources Zorlya reads are listed in the app after you sign in.